YELLOW MANGOSTEEN

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Garcinia dulcis
FAMILY: Guttiferae

Way back in 1987 I went on a tour with members of the Rare fruit Council to Malaysia, Thailand and Burma.

We delighted our taste buds with some of the fruits from the different areas. It was during one of our walks through a Bangkok market that I discovered the sweetest Garcinia dulcis (Yellow Mangosteen) that I have ever tasted. It was like eating a sweet yellow peach, coupled with that distinctive mangosteen tang. I was hooked. I brought some seeds back and today I have 4 healthy trees growing in my orchard.

Photo of child with Yellow Mangosteen.

Three of them set flowers last year, so I was pretty excited this year when I found that two of them had set fruit. One had three fruit and the other had only one. I had searched the Far North for any other sweet yellow Mangosteens and found one in Gordonvale which I thought was sweeter than most of the ones I had tried around the district.

In Mossman, someone had one, but I hadn't tried it, so I went to Mike Fabian at Limberlost Nurseries with the first of the fruit. I knew he had tried sweet yellow mangosteen from both places. We sat there and I cut it open, it had been a 7-year wait, and I was holding my breath as I passed a piece to Mike. I could tell by the smile on his face that it was OK and yes, according to Mike, it was the sweetest he'd ever tasted. It was more round than the other mangosteens and didn't have the two segments inside. It was complete from the skin to the seed, and like its purple cousin, very moreish.

The fruit is ripe in June/July. I would be interested to hear from anyone who also has a sweet yellow mangosteen growing in their orchard.

Russell Francis, Cairns

DATE: September 1994

* * * * * * * * * * * * *